A spike in seizures of exotic wildlife species trafficked from Thailand and Malaysia at airports in South India provides a glimpse into the flourishing pet trade across the country. Official data indicates that Chennai is a hub for a well-oiled international trade, with its airport accounting for a third of all such seizures at India’s international airports. While the city’s customs authorities stopped 18 such attempts in 2023-24, indicating sharper vigilance, information released on request shows that organized crime syndicates have started shifting their landing points to Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Visakhapatnam.
Exotic pets have become aspirational additions to many more households in the post-pandemic era. Many are shelling out lakhs of rupees to buy iguanas, marmosets, kangaroos, exotic tortoises, poisonous snakes, alligators, and rare birds. With several social media channels openly advertising their sale even with tips on care and diet there are no pretensions of secrecy. Pet shops in Chennai and Bengaluru cater to those who prefer in-person purchases. It helps traffickers that direct flights from Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur to these southern airports take only about three hours short enough to keep the drugged animals alive during the journey.
The thriving trade defies multiple Indian laws, including the stringent Wildlife Protection Act of 1972, which bars the import and possession of exotic animals without permission from state wildlife authorities and other agencies. Even the Union government’s 2020 move to regulate this trade through the Parivesh portal, which issues permits for such pets after checks, has not been effective in curbing it. The illegal wildlife trade also has larger ramifications, with a 2020 report by the Financial Action Task Force highlighting its use in money laundering.
Legalities aside, the entry of exotic wildlife into the Indian ecosystem brings with it the risk of zoonotic diseases, a key post-Covid concern. There is also significant literature warning against the risk of some escaped species becoming invasive in new habitats. Airport officers underline another basic concern: would Indian hospitals have antivenom for, say, African horned pit vipers like the one seized at Chennai airport in 2019, or rattlesnakes seized at Hyderabad last week? It is time for the Indian government to introduce an omnibus legal framework and enforce stronger measures to ban this trade.